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System-level change challenges and demands all energy sector organizations as well as entire societies to develop their own ambitious energy transition roadmaps combined with milestones to facilitate the shift from fossil energy to low emission energy. Those roadmaps would support the prompt and efficient entry of new energy carriers, and thus also quicken the reduction of emissions throughout the whole energy value chain, expediting the achievable impact.
To finally reach a sustainable carbon cycle, massive investments are required in decarbonization – through renewable energy and energy efficiency; and through carbon sequestration in the form of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technologies and carbon sinks.
In this challenging situation, we must find optimism and together create a sustainable way forward. There are plenty of tools and means to succeed in that.
Our vision is to be the leading producer and seller of CO2-aware energy. We are realizing our vision through investments in the energy transition, and at the same time, building world-class expertise in the energy sector.
As a company in transition, we need to uncover further new avenues for sustainable growth and build a profitable business for the future. In the process of renewing our business, we are drawing an energy transition roadmap which will guide our operations going forward.
Our roadmap work is governed by society’s regulations and decisions, technological advancements, as well as our business’s adaptation to new situations and customers’ demands and behavioural changes.
Growth opportunities for St1 arise by developing and exploring new business areas while at the same time ensuring a healthy cash flow that supports the transition. Furthermore, we are accelerating growth through acquisitions and strengthening our operations through strategic long-term partnerships in various areas. In addition, we are developing future value chains to invest in CO2 -aware energy production. Naturally, future decisions within the regulatory framework will affect the realization of these opportunities.
Liquid transport fuels will continue to play a major role for decades to come, but the products will change over time towards more and more low-emission fuels. Today, St1 has a strong asset base for liquid fuels trade in the Nordics: refinery infrastructure, terminal and retail networks, and logistics, and sales network for end customers in the transport fuels segment, such as road, marine, and aviation.
Our work in developing liquid fuels will continue to contribute a significant part of our cash flow and allow us to introduce more and more sustainable energy to the market in different forms.
The St1 Energy Transition Roadmap serves as a framework and tool for us to continuously model our future energy mix and decrease the carbon intensity of the portfolio of the energy we produce and sell. It is based on our strategy and business plans aligned with the Nordic energy demand scenarios and EU regulation. The primary target of our roadmap is to grow our low-emission energy portfolio. This requires us to connect our new products with growing market segments that could also emerge in different sectors and in geographical areas.
Our roadmap consists of low-emission energy like renewable electricity, hydrogen-based energy carriers and biofuels, as well as fossil fuel-based energy. In other words, it is our projection of what the Nordic energy system will look like, and what St1’s role will be in it, considering both the timespan and volume development of different low-emission energy solutions replacing traditional fuels.
The roadmap’s main drivers are St1's vision as well as our strategic choices to continuously enhance the sustainability of our value chain. The stakeholder interface and dialogue are also key elements to understand what requirements our customers will set us and how quickly the market and society adapts to new energy carriers.
We want to offer all our customers a solution where we can manage market-related risks, not only delivering energy, but also providing transparent and trustworthy ways to reduce their own carbon footprint.
Carbon sequestration from the atmosphere using a combination of technological and nature-based solutions is a critical part of climate mitigation. At this point, our roadmap does not count these as part of emission reduction solutions for St1’s own value chain emissions. However, we are continuously developing such programs and are already offering our customers the possibility to invest in atmospheric carbon removal.
As a small energy transition company, we have punched above our weight and continue to do so. Our energy transition journey became evident in 2007, when in the spirit of our vision, we opened our first Etanolix-plant in Finland, producing waste-based ethanol for transportation. Already then, we were determined to solve global energy challenges. And today, this passion is stronger than ever.
We have boldly taken ambitious steps to explore, pilot, and commercialize new energy solutions. We expanded the advanced ethanol biorefinery network, introducing the waste-based RE85 high-blend ethanol fuel in Finland. We also entered the industrial wind power production market, promoting the spread of the renewable energy and its technological development.
Our associated company TuuliWatti became the leading wind power actor in Finland. We saw great opportunities worth piloting in combustion-free heating through deep geothermal heat, drilling into depths of over 6 kilometres in the hope of uncovering an emissions-free solution. We have taken risks in our search of answers in the face of global energy challenges – at times successfully and at other times not – but always learning and advancing.
Today, we produce and sell biogas and advanced ethanol, as well as design, construct, and maintain ground source heating systems. We will soon begin producing renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuels. We have many significant renewable energy projects in the pipeline, many of them with our steadfast partners.
In line with our vision, we seek to enable a positive societal impact through our operations. We work constantly towards enabling a more sustainable value chain.
We believe that we will achieve our vision by running a responsible and profitable business where economic performance, social responsibility, and environmental sustainability are in balance. In this report, we aim to transparently share our ambition and the steps we are taking in our energy transition journey.
